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These articles DO NOT constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such. If an article is relevant to your particular legal situation you should understand that it is merely intended to provide a very general preview of matters that would be discussed in detail during a face-to-face consultation. The law is constantly changing and some of the information in these articles might be obsolete. Please also recognize that seemingly insignificant details often have a big effect on the advice that we give our clients concerning a particular legal issue.
March 27, 2013
A child who has reached the age of 14 has the right to select the parent with whom he or she will live. The selection, however, must be found by the Court to be in the child’s “best interest”. There is a presumption that the child’s selection is in his or her best interest. This means that the party opposing the selection will have the burden of convincing the Court that the selection is not in the child’s best interests. In my experience the opposing party has an uphill battle.
A case seeking to modify physical custody may be filed solely on the ground that the child is over the age of 14 and wants live with the other parent. When custody is modified based solely on the child’s selection there cannot be another custody action filed for a period of two years following the selection. This means that the child cannot change his or her mind and return to the other parent’s custody within two years of his or her previous selection unless there is some additional evidence to support a change of custody. For this reason the child should be certain of his or her selection.
February 28, 2013
By Lance Owen
| Posted in
Divorce | Prenuptial agreements (also referred to as antenuptial agreements) recognize the respective rights of each party in the event of the death of either party or in the event of divorce. These agreements were definitively recognized as enforceable by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1982. The Courts will recognize such agreements and the terms and provisions contained therein so long as none of the following circumstances are present:
(1) The agreement obtained through fraud, duress, or mistake;
(2) The the agreement unconscionable; or
(3) The facts and circumstances have changed since the agreement was executed so as to make its enforcement unfair and unreasonable?
February 24, 2013
By Lance Owen
| Posted in
Child Support | The Georgia child support statute (O.C.G.A. §19-6-15) was revised in 2007 to implement the “income shares model” that has been adopted by the majority of the states in the U.S. Under this approach the income of both parents is considered in the child support calculations.
The current version of the statute imposes a complicated mathematical formula that is based upon a number of variables that are implemented into a Microsoft Excel program. The implementation of some of these variables is within the discretion of the Court (ie. cost of private school tuition, cost of extracurricular activities) while other variables are not discretionary and must be included in the calculations (ie. cost of work related childcare, cost of health insurance).
